The first page I reviewed was Mediastorm. It is journalism website comprised of about 20 to 30 documentary style videos, and is sponsored by washingtonpost.com. Some of the videos are done with still photography set to music. Some of them are motion pictures. They all run somewhere along the lines of about 15 minutes in length. It is a very powerful website, showing problems not only in the United States, but also in Africa and the Middle East. It is a very intuitive website in that the stories on the front page appear to be still pictures until you place the cursor over them which launches a small segment and sound bite of the video.
The video I watched, titled The Ninth Floor, was done by Jessica Dimmock. This video was one of the most gripping and arresting videos I have seen in a long time. It covered the story of heroin addicts who had taken over an apartment overlooking Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York. It followed the lives of three of these individuals after being evicted from the apartment. At times it was truly hard to watch simply because of the pure despair and anguish, and the carnage and violence it displayed. The music could not have been better chosen, it seems as if it were made for the piece. It carried the story and at times attempted to wrench tears from my eyes. I will recommend it to many people not just for its artistic value, but for the compelling real-life drama it displays.
Overall, I loved this website. It was very eye catching and fun to tool around on, not to mention the absolute beauty of the videos it contains.
